Travel Apps :: WindowSeat

[trip style = any] I love planes with personal seat-back entertainment consoles. You can watch what you want when you want, play games and check the flight's status. Sadly, the information in the status area is never as comprehensive as I'd like it to be, and some planes don't even have personal screens. Quelle horreur!

Enter the WindowSeat app. Without the need for GPS or a network connection, it acts like a tour guide and pilot status report in one. Using your iPhone as a flight tracker, it shows you what's below, gathers the flight plan for your journey and maps the route.

Testing this app on a virtual flight from Seattle to Sacramento, it was easy to find and start the flight, and tap points of interest below to learn about places like the Oroville Dam {the tallest earthen dam in the US}. If the captain makes an announcement about updated time of arrival or ground speed, these settings can both be updated within the app to achieve a more accurate reading.

Right now this app only works for flights within the contiguous USA {ie - sadly not Alaska or Hawaii}, but hopefully its database will expand to include the rest of the US and more countries like Canada. For now, it's a decent download if you travel a lot within the US.

Details

• $2.99
• no wifi connection required
• available for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad. Android is in the realm of possibility, but not confirmed
• Track any commercial flight throughout the U.S.
• WindowSeat calculates your position and anticipated arrival time based on the assigned route and airtime of your flight
• Update your position based on your flight’s actual status, and WindowSeat recalculates your time
• View images and read descriptions about the points-of-interest you pass below
• If your flight has wifi, let friends know where you're at in the flight

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Other Travel Apps Every Tuesday we feature a new travel app. Don’t forget to peruse the other 75+ travel apps we’ve reviewed from travel first aid, to luxury and boutique hotel finders, to border waits and trip itinerary management. Here are the most recent:

• High-End Camp Cooking
• Vancouver Street Food
• livingsocial escapes
• Free Wifi Finders
• Hail a Taxi

Travel Apps :: High-End & Easy Camp Cooking

[trip style = camping] Going camping or glamping this summer? I haven't booked a campsite yet, and have no idea where I want to go aside from "somewhere" on the West Coast, but really want to camp this summer.

One of my favourite parts about camping is the cooking and eating. Previously, my understanding of cooking at camp was roasted marshmallows, fire-roasted wieners and boxed cereal, but thanks to some of my foodie friends {whose camping menus would make you drool}, and the app revolution, I've learned it's easy and fun, to prepare and cook foodie-worthy fare at the campsite.

Foodie Camping Apps Coleman’s Camping Cookbook I featured this app last year as part of a round-up of 6 free camping apps, but it's so good, it's worth mentioning again. Think camptastic food like bocconcini and basil s'mores, beer can chicken and muffins in an orange shell. Find recipes by cook method {stove, foil, dutch oven, grill, on a stick, etc...}, meal or ingredients. +  free +  no wifi connection required +  available for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Epicurious Unless you "camp" in a mobile mansion {ie - decked-out RV with more bells and whistles than a condo}, you'd think Epicurous is not for the campground. But, foodies take heart, some of the recipes can be easily tweaked for the wild. Specifically, Epicurious' 'picnic ideas’ and 'grilled mains' categories are the perfect stating point for going to town in your outdoor kitchen. Here's what's for dinner tonight: grilled lemon-oregano chicken drumsticks with orzo, green bean and fennel salad. + free + no wifi connection required +  available for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android

Food Network Canada Recipes Leave it to the hosts of the Food Network to inspire your camp's cooking adventures. Again, though this app isn't specifically camping-related, its recipes, especially in the 'grilling' and 'easy' sections, can be done at the campsite. Sit at your site's picnic table or in your fold-out camping chairs, and enjoy maple planked salmon with grilled lemon with apple, walnut, celery salad. + free + no wifi connection required +  available for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

— Get more travel tips & updates like this by subscribing to RSS or email, liking us on facebook or following us on twitter. —

Other Travel Apps Every Tuesday we feature a new travel app. Don’t forget to peruse the other 75+ travel apps we’ve reviewed from travel first aid, to luxury and boutique hotel finders, to border waits and trip itinerary management. Here are the most recent:

• Vancouver Street Food
• livingsocial escapes
• Free Wifi Finders
• Hail a Taxi
• Groupon

Travel App Tuesday :: Vancouver Street Food

[trip style = urban] Street food is getting hotter than picante salsa! All the cool cities have trucks, from NYC to LA and Portland to Vancouver. If you don't believe me, just look to ABC's new hit Friends-like show Happy Endings. Dave, one of the sitcom's main characters owns a street food truck. There's even a Food Network show on the topic {which I'd so rather watch than Man vs Food!}. Now that you're up on your street food pop culture....

It's also trendy for restaurants to expand their kitchens into trucks as well. I was dining at C Restaurant in Vancouver the other night, and the manager told me they're working on a street food truck project. Similarly, La Brasserie's restauranteur has also started a popular food truck, aptly named, La Brasserie Street {twitter link @labrasseriest}.

For those of you who think truck food is akin to those little make-shift BBQs on side streets or markets in Asia, think again. Food trucks are using gourmet twists to lure people outside of restaurants and onto the street! Case in point, one of Vancouver's pioneer and most famous food trucks, Roaming Dragon, serves items like basil lychee lemonade, chicken karaage and fried rice balls.

Here are some apps that will help you stay up-to-date on Vancouver's Food Truck scene:

Vancouver Street Food - See which food carts are nearby, open and most popular. Find up-to-the-minute opening hours, locations, contact information, etc... Requires wifi connection.

Eat St. - Redering results in Vancouver and beyond, Eat St. connects you to the best street food in your city {in North America}. Requires wifi connection.

— Get more travel tips & updates like this by subscribing to RSS or email, liking us on facebook or following us on twitter. —

Other Travel Apps Every Tuesday we feature a new travel app. Don’t forget to peruse the other 75+ travel apps we’ve reviewed from travel first aid, to luxury and boutique hotel finders, to border waits and trip itinerary management. Here are the most recent:

• livingsocial escapes
• Free Wifi Finders
• Hail a Taxi
• Groupon
• Travel Apps Nominated for a Webby Award

Travel App Tuesday :: livingsocial escapes

[trip style = budget] Within the past six months, livingsocial {a competitor of the group couponing site Groupon} came out with an escapes program. In addition to the daily deals offered on teeth whitening, flower arrangements or gym memberships, livingsocial has expanded their coupons---more accurately described as vouchers---to include packaged getaways to nearby and international locales.

The travel deals, usually available only four days on the app/site before they expire, show all package and property details including pictures, savings, amount of "coupons"  purchased, and days remaining before the offer expires. Though the hotels don't represent a fancy collection of curated properties, some peaked my interest with escapes in:

• Sooke, BC {2-person, two night stay in oceanfront room, daily breakfast, mead and cheese tasting, $218}
• Banff, Alberta {2-person weekend escape, includes rivier rafting and happy hour bevvie credit,$369}
• La Romana, Dominican Republic {2-person, 5-night, all-inclusive, bring 2 kids under 12 for free, $699}
• Mission Beach, Australia {2-person, 2-night stay, bottle of champagne, daily breakfast, $354}

The reason this daily-deal-website-turned-partial-travel-app's escapes are worth mentioning is a) it's interesting to browse discounted local and international escapes, b) there are usually significant add-ons to each stay like breakfast or champagne on arrival, and c) if something catches your eye, share it with three of your friends and get a free stay {or you and your friends each get 25% off}. It's your choice. Bon voyage!

— Get more travel tips & updates like this by subscribing to RSS or email, liking us on facebook or following us on twitter. —

Other Travel Apps Every Tuesday we feature a new travel app. Don’t forget to peruse the other 70+ travel apps we’ve reviewed from travel first aid, to luxury and boutique hotel finders, to border waits and trip itinerary management. Here are the most recent:

• Free Wifi Finders
• Hail a Taxi
• Groupon
• Travel Apps Nominated for a Webby Award
• Whistler Blackcomb Live

Travel App Tuesday :: 5 Wifi Finders

[trip style = any]

Knowing so many travel apps depend on wifi, today's Travel App Tuesday series involves human interaction and wifi hints versus dependence on an app.

Half the travel apps I have work in offline mode, and the rest require wifi to render fresh material. When outside of Canada, my iPhone's data won't work without wifi, which is one of the MANY reasons I appreciated my trip to Eastern Canada and the Maritimes last summer. I was able to get data from my carrier anywhere, any time. However, aside from local trips, I usually travel abroad so finding wifi is a massive consideration in how I travel as well as the hotel I choose.

Tips for Finding Wifi Abroad 1. Use a Human "Finder" Ask your hotel's concierge, front desk or housekeeper where to find wifi in the area. In Sydney, I had to initially rely on the hotel's concierge to find wifi given it was $30 a day at the hotel.

2. Buy a Starbucks Coffee In Canada, the US and UK, you can get free wifi at Starbucks. I can remember a surf trip to Oregon a few years ago where I became intimate with the Starbucks near my yurt because I had a ton of work to wrap-up over the long weekend...

3. McWifi Unless you count my copious consumption of McDonald's soft serve ice cream {and only McDonald's ice cream} while in Tianjin, China in 2001, I'm not a huge fan of McDonalds, until I discovered their newest McFeature, free wifi available in most major worldwide markets. Here are the McDonald's locations with confirmed free wifi: Canada, USA, Australia, UK, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, etc... Please let me know if other countries should be included in this list.

4. Is Wifi a Loyalty Program Away? One of the many reasons I love Fairmont Hotels is their complimentary wifi, but it is only free if you're a member of their loyalty program {also free to join}. It amazes me how many people pay between $15 and $30 a day for something they could have free, but how would you know unless you asked or googled it pre-trip?

5. An App for That If all else fails, which I know sounds ironic given this is a weekly app series, use a free wifi finder app when you're out and about to try and find wifi via the app's GPS and downloaded database of wifi locations.

— Get more travel tips & updates like this by subscribing to RSS or email, liking us on facebook or following us on twitter. —

Other Travel Apps Every Tuesday we feature a new travel app. Don’t forget to peruse the other 70+ travel apps we’ve reviewed from travel first aid, to luxury and boutique hotel finders, to border waits and trip itinerary management. Here are the most recent:

• Hail a Taxi
• Groupon
• Travel Apps Nominated for a Webby Award
• Whistler Blackcomb Live
• Room77